Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Pathos of American Propaganda
The American propaganda poster depicts a group of American astronauts dominating the moon by stomping on a Soviet flag and helmet, with the caption "Clean the Communist filth off the moon, Join the US Space Marines today". The depiction of the American astronauts crushing the Soviet flag while holding machine guns clearly evokes aggressive connotations, compared to the optimism and fulfillment evoked by the Soviet propaganda. Thus, this causes the viewer to feel a bit overwhelmed and fearful of the American campaign to overtake the Soviets' advances in space travel. Furthermore, the depiction of the disproportionally large American flag further demonstrates the superiority Americans feel and want to cultivate against other nations, specifically the Soviet Union. This appeal to pathos causes the viewer to feel a bit disturbed by the image, as it evokes concepts such as conflict and domination. However, the most potent appeal to pathos is the straightforward and shameless caption "Clean the Communist filth off the moon, Join the US Space Marines today". This declaration refers to the Soviet advancements as "Communist filth", clearly making the Space Race solely a political conversation, whereas the Soviet propaganda depicted the Space Race as a celebration of their nation's achievements. While the caption appeals to the viewer to take a stand, it also causes the viewer to feel turned off to the view that Americans should go to space solely to beat the Soviets, instead of for the sake of catalyzing our nation's milestones in space travel and technology. Therefore, while the American propaganda tries to instill patriotism through aggressive means, the Soviet propaganda creates an aura of optimism and celebration, thus successfully fostering Soviet unity.
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Your assessment of the American propaganda poster was very clear. I liked your insight on the "disproportionately large" American flag. I would have liked to read more about the contrast between imagery invoked in Soviet propaganda and that in American propaganda, since you brought Soviet propaganda into your analysis.
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The space race is a very interesting to me - not only because of the incredible technological advancements, but also the sense of pride and unity present in consequence. However, I found this particular piece of American propaganda quite distasteful, while the Soviet poster was much more appealing. The aggressiveness and outright creepiness of the American soldiers, the raw drawing style, the values connoted by the caption (it seems that the U.S. goal of reaching the Moon is driven solely by a desire to beat the Soviet), and the overall ridiculousness of it (don't they know what shooting a gun in space would do? It’d probably be rather funny and not very efficient - http://www.livescience.com/18588-shoot-gun-space.html) just put me off. I appreciate reaching for the Moon and stars as a symbol of a nation’s dreams and aspirations rather than a battle to see who’s the strongest. Strongest at what? Shooting people? Maybe they should review their priorities a little.
ReplyDeleteAnd I forgot to say, good job on the writing, and more importantly on the observations. I like how you contrasted the apparent contradicting values between the two propaganda posters. Also, good job to the entire team. I really like the pieces you chose to analyse because of their slight controversy: I would've expected the optimism and celebration to come from the US rather than the USSR, and vice versa with the aggressiveness. The images prove me wrong and make me wonder just how much I really understand about the space race era.
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